Alex Savege is the Earl of Savege and as well a pirate captain named Redstone.. Alex is not your typical nobleman who attend balls and parties.. He hates the life of the Earl of Savege and therefore creates the person Captain Redstone and cruises the Seas in his ship The Cavalier.. After years at sea he has to come back and take his rightful place as the Earl of Savege and his place in the House of Lords.. he decides to settle down and take a bride.. Serena Carlyle and her Step sister Charity are his neighbors near his country seat.. Charity is considered as the potential bride for Alex, but as the story progresses there are twists and turns where in Alex and Serena fall in love with each other at the same time Charity and Alex's twin brother Aaron fall in love and Serena's step mother and brother are involved in smuggling and use the caves near their country house to smuggle arms and ammunition.. they finally get caught and Serena's stepmother takes all the money and jewelry from the house and runs away.. Finally after all the confusion of arrests both couples tie the knot.. Well done, Katharine Ashe! You kept everything I enjoyed about book 1 - mainly, your superb writing style - but kicked it up a notch with lovable characters I couldn't help but cheer for this time.I adored the heroine, Serena Carlyle, especially: smart, loyal, daring, imaginative. Her periodic flights of fancy were utterly charming and, I suspect, something every creative writer can empathize with. Ashe successfully pulls off a difficult characterization - that of a innocent wanton - without making her a dupe or a slut. I empathized with Serena's desires rather than thinking she was immoral or stupid. Serena's eyes were wide open and she owned this part of herself, even if she wasn't terribly proud of it, and this made me love her all the more.Alex Savege is deliciously, unapologetically naughty as well as reluctantly heroic. I certainly can't blame Serena for succumbing to his copious charms. But I think the best part of the relationship is that both of them accepted each other for what they were, for what they could offer in the moment. Nobody flew off the handle about anything. When a doubt or problem surfaced, they used their heads and logic to solve the issue. BRAVA to Ashe for promoting intelligent, mature understanding within a romance novel!!Ashe's strength is definitely witty period dialogue. She should write for the next Masterpiece Theater costume soap. If you're the kind of person who lives for Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess Violet zingers, Ashe's stuff is right up your alley.The plot of "Captured by a Rogue Lord" is a thorough romp, entertaining from its pirate shipboard mock-execution beginning to let's-sneak-away-from-a-sibling's-wedding-for-sex ending. It's chock full of romance novel tropes, all employed with a sly smile and tug of the hat. Smugglers! Secret identities! Tarnished reputations! Illicit affairs and illegitimate offspring! TWIN BROTHERS! Heavens, even a perfectly nasty wicked stepmother locks our heroine in her room at night... seriously! Ashe pulls it all off to wonderful effect.
What do You think about Hovarda (2013)?
Intelligent plot and prose. Ignore the cheesey cover.
—MattRaf
